#6.270

[sidlamaute]

Stormageddon (Stormy) -- January 2014

Summary: I participated in 6.270, the LEGO Robotics Competition, with a fencing teammate. (Our team name was “Foiled Again!”) We had to make a robot out of LEGO bricks that could pass the three-foot-drop test, then program it in C to navigate the field, pull a lever to get rings, and place rings on central towers to balance them.  We were able to get the first three tasks done very reliably, which allowed us to successfully proceed to the quarter-finals. I really enjoyed the opportunity to participate in this competition, since I did FIRST Robotics throughout high school and mentored FIRST LEGO League and Jr. FIRST Lego League, and I really love building with LEGO bricks. What I Learned: programming in C, using accelerometers/gyroscopes for navigation, and designing a fall-resistant robot out of LEGO bricks. Documentation: source code

[shadow-detective-prince-blog]

Well, that robot just self destructed by throwing itself off the stage.  I suppose its internal navigation system was programmed poorly.

[shadow-detective-prince-blog]

Enjoy a break after a long day of debugging weapon systems and watching robots perform complicated dance routines for my amusement.

I love the TV world.

[handsonlearning]

Time to start updating this blog...

The the week before IAP started, I spent a good amount of time in lab writing a detailed guide on how to use 6.270's "happy board" with motors and sensors. There were online course notes which introduced students about how sensors and motors would work, but not really how to use them using the specific board and the exact programming routine.

The guide was made due to my and my friend's frustrations last year about using happy-board and trying to interface with it. Last year, teams were still calibrating gyros and testing sensors near the 3rd week of 6.270... It meant that no one was really doing productive programming. Instead, everyone was stuck just trying to figure out how to operate the damn thing.

Anyway, this motivated me to make the guide to make life easier for this year's contestants. I really think it helped. I wrote the document in my own voice... I think you can even hear it when you read through it. =]

Before the start of the 1st mock competition (students had to drive to specified points in the field) 15 out of 24 teams were scoring above 20 points. This was a great increase from last year's 4 out of 29 teams performance last year. Teams actually got to do useful navigation program. I was very satisfied & happy to see the students see their programs work (after multiple tests =] ).

Happylab can always be improved, but I'm glad that the platform is set for future teams.

The PDF document is available for download here